Israel’s opposition has finally mustered a majority to dislodge Binyamin Netanyahu

NAFTALI BENNETT, the tech millionaire turned politician (pictured) who is poised to become Israel’s next prime minister, began his political career in 2006 as chief of staff to Binyamin Netanyahu, then the leader of the opposition. Mr Bennett admired him for years and played a key role in his return to power in 2009. His memoir begins with a note of gratitude to his former boss, and ends with an adulatory chapter entitled “What I learned from Binyamin Netanyahu”.Times have changed. On May 30th Mr Bennett accused Mr Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, of “trying to take the entire state of Israel with him to his personal Masada”—a reference to the hilltop fortress where Jewish rebels committed mass suicide 1,900 years ago, rather than be captured by Roman soldiers. He is one of a long line of former aides and ministers who have turned on their old boss, not because they disagree with his hardline policies, but, as Mr Bennett explained, “because no one believed [Mr Netanyahu’s] promises would be kept.”